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Hong Kong will do its very best to bring about a credible outcome for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Sixth Ministerial Conference, while demonstrating its competence as a world city in managing such a large and complex event, both inside and outside the conference rooms, the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr John Tsang, said today (November 21).
Speaking at the Economist Intelligence Unit CEO session, Mr Tsang said Hong Kong was not meant to be, nor was it ever meant to be, the conclusion of the Round. It was always seen as a milestone from which the WTO's 148 Members could go forward and complete their Development Agenda by the end of 2006.
Mr Tsang said that a strongly-worded statement from the APEC leadership was issued last week, urging a high level of ambition for the Doha Round, and appealing for the statesmanship needed to get the agricultural issue back on track.
"The commitment to the Doha Round shown by the leadership in Busan last week will add pressure where it is needed, primarily on the EU. After all, APEC's 21 member economies represented a third of the world's population, about 60% of the global economy and half of world trade. Theirs is a voice that should be heeded," he said.
Mr Tsang believed that a useful outcome would be made in the Hong Kong Ministerial and that Hong Kong would become the most important staging post toward the conclusion of the Round.
Noting that the Doha Round is a development round, Mr Tsang said that during the APEC Ministers meeting, he had put forward five possible components of a development package. These are:
(1) commitment to tariff-free quota-free market access for products of the Least Developed Countries;
(2) harvesting as many of the agreement-specific Special and Differential Treatment proposals as possible;
(3) agreement on a longer transition period for Least Developed Countries under the Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and Trade-related Investment Measures (TRIMs) agreements;
(4) commitment to an Aid for Trade programme, which among other things should be sufficient to enable early implementation of the Trade Facilitation measures on which agreement is already very close; and
(5) securing a permanent solution to the TRIPS and Public Health issue.
"If it is indeed doable, we should aim at achieving an early harvest on the reduction of cotton subsidies as well," he said.
Mr Tsang noted that the business leaders had urged WTO Member governments to face up to their responsibilities and re-instill confidence among producers, consumers and investors that the multilateral trading system was still safe in their hands.
"These are compelling messages from international business. I would urge you and your peers to add your voice and your weight to their eloquent plea for a successful conclusion to the Doha Round," he added.
Ends/Monday, November 21, 2005
Issued at HKT 15:10
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